10/10/2013

Managing Access Is as Good as It Gets: BYOD Security without Compromise

by ZixCorp

If you’re responsible for managing BYOD, the recent stat that probably jumps out at you is that 113 smartphones are lost or stolen every minute. The odds are not in your favor. To make matters worse, when (not if) a device is lost or stolen, it may be hours, days or weeks before you even know it. In the meantime, your corporate data is in jeopardy. By the time you find out, the wrong person may have disconnected the device, prevented any wiping capability and accessed customer data, intellectual property and more. Save the worry and save the data by never allowing data to reside on the device. Ever. Instead simply stream the data through a secure application. You are protected. Your employees are happy. That’s the power of managing access.

And if that weren’t enough, here are additional advantages:

•One Copy and It’s Behind Your Network. You’ve invested resources to protect the data in your company’s network. Use it to your advantage by simply allowing secure access to it. The alternative allows data to be downloaded to devices, requiring the management of not one single access point but the protection of thousands (possibly millions) of copies of data. You may be up to the task, but then you may not have that opportunity if the device falls into the wrong hands.

•Avoid the Awkwardness. If data is allowed to reside on the device, you’ll need the option to wipe that data. With it, comes the awkward conversation of personal data loss. And if that doesn’t make your employees happy, neither will the waiver they’ll need to sign to give you control of their personal devices. By enabling access, there’s no wiping of any corporate data, because it doesn’t exist on the device. Since you don’t need to control the device, you can leave the waivers behind.

•Visibility into What You Need to Know. Understanding how your corporate data is being used and by who is critical to BYOD security. Understanding your employees’ lifestyle through calls, texts, photos and location tracking is not. Even if your company has no interest in that personal data, the ability to simply access it creates a gap in employee trust and leaves you open to potential lawsuits. By controlling access to corporate data and not the device itself, you can monitor and protect your corporate data without access to any other data or functions on the device.

•Meet Employee Demands. Enabling access to corporate data gives your employees exactly what they want – work and life on their devices without giving up control, convenience or privacy. The BYOD movement started with employees, so their demands are an essential component to successfully adopting a BYOD security strategy that is truly effective.